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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Love & Mercy' told Brian Wilson's story in a way that fit him
But the film's real magic came in its recreations of the studio sessions that yielded the glory of the 'Pet Sounds' album and the singular single 'Good Vibrations.' We see Dano's Wilson orchestrating his session players, many of them from the loose, unparalleled collective known as The Wrecking Crew, through the recording of 'Pet Sounds.' We see him obsessing over that perfect cello sound that makes 'Good Vibrations' purr, as Beach Boy Mike Love (Jake Abel) snarls his impatient disapproval. I've seen few movie sequences that better capture the euphoric, frustrating creative process. Advertisement Chris Vognar, a freelance culture writer, was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University.
Boston Globe
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Poker Face' offers a fantasy of truth divining that would be exhausting in real life
Pop culture has often batted around the idea of what it means to lie and tell the truth, usually to comic effect. In 'Liar Liar' (1997), Jim Carrey plays a truth-challenged lawyer whose son makes a wish that Dad will no longer lie. Presto! A movie full of (often quite funny) jokes about a lawyer forced to be honest. In 'The Invention of Lying' (2009), Ricky Gervais, who also co-wrote and co-directed, plays a writer in a world where the first lie has yet to be told. In a burst of inspiration, he becomes a pioneer in the field of fabulism. A lineup of criminals and hucksters test Charlie in the new season, played by the likes of John Cho, Katie Holmes, and call them out. She's not naïve, but she is offended by dishonesty. In the present-day real world, she would never get a wink of sleep. Advertisement Culture critic Chris Vognar was the 2008 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard. He cannot tell a lie.
